ATLANTA — Saturday starts a season-ending run of bus rides or Boone home games for App State Football, as the Mountaineers resume Sun Belt Conference play with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Georgia State.
After opening league play with a loss at West Division opponent Southern Miss on Sept. 13 and playing the final two games of its nonconference schedule, App State's trip to Center Parc Credit Union Stadium begins a streak of six consecutive Sun Belt games against East Division foes, leading up to a home finale against West Division opponent Arkansas State.
The Mountaineers (3-2, 0-1) aren't on the wrong end of any East tiebreakers despite the outcome in Hattiesburg, but determining the East representative for the Sun Belt Championship game is a matter for late November, not this weekend. They are looking to snap the program's six-game losing streak on the road and do something that didn't occur last season — win a Sun Belt game on the road.
"Now we have another huge road test in front of us," first-year App State head coach
Dowell Loggains said.
App State ended its 2025 nonleague schedule with a dramatic home win against Oregon State, which fell to 0-6 against a difficult schedule. Similarly, Georgia State (1-4, 0-1) has faced a tough schedule so far with losses to No. 4 Ole Miss (5-0), No. 23 Memphis (6-0), No. 20 Vanderbilt (5-1) and James Madison (4-1).
Oregon State arrived in Boone having faced opponents with a combined record of 21-2, while Georgia State's four losses have occurred against teams that are a combined 20-1. Last weekend, the Panthers led 7-0 at halftime and were tied in the fourth quarter of a 14-7 home loss to JMU, which rushed for 211 yards but managed only 74 passing yards.
Georgia State, meanwhile, threw for 212 yards but rushed for only 37 against the Dukes' defense. App State also has been strong in defending the run, keeping Oregon State out of the end zone on three straight fourth-quarter tries from the 1 and ranking 15th nationally by allowing 87.0 rushing yards per game.
Opposing offenses have enjoyed more success through the air, with Southern Miss, Boise State and Oregon State throwing for 279, 321 and 358 yards, respectively, against the Mountaineers. The Panthers have been using two quarterbacks throughout the season, led by 6-foot-7 TJ Finley, who played at Auburn, Texas State and WKU before transferring to Georgia State and being added to the active roster following the Ole Miss opener.
Finley has thrown for at least 150 yards in the last four games, while Texas Tech transfer Cameran Brown completed at least eight passes in each of the first four games and leads the team with five touchdown passes. Finley has four, and 2024 starter Christian Veilleux threw one as the opening-game starter against Ole Miss.
"We'll be diligent in our preparation," Loggains said. "It does create a challenge, just like I'm sure last week (Oregon State) had to prepare for, is it (JJ) Kohl or is it (AJ) Swann or is it Noah (Gillon), but it's really about you and having a good plan. It's about you being good with your eyes and clean with your eyes and clean with your alignments and clean with your assignments and playing good football."
The Panthers' top target in the passing game has been All-Sun Belt receiver Ted Hurst, a 6-foot-3 senior who nearly reached 1,000 yards last season and had a 10-catch, 172-yard outing with two touchdowns in Georgia State's win against Murray State.
Defensively, with Georgia State moving forward from its low-scoring loss to James Madison, some of the numbers are skewed by allowing 63 and 70 points in their two games against ranked SEC opponents. The Panthers intercepted two passes against Ole Miss, and their other takeaway to date was a fumble recovery against Murray State.
App State didn't commit any turnovers against Oregon State, dodging disaster thanks to a late recovery of a fumble in the Mountaineers' own end zone by quarterback
JJ Kohl, who made his first start with
AJ Swann unavailable.
Rashod Dubinion continued his streak of rushing for at least 95 yards in every game, production that has him ranked No. 5 nationally at 122.2 rushing yards per game, and receiver
Davion Dozier scored during a four-catch, 140-yard performance.
The Panthers have created problems with their play up front, totaling 29 tackles for loss so far, including eight against Memphis and six against Ole Miss.
"They have real twitch on their defensive line," Loggains said. "You turn on tape, watching, Oregon State was big but they were different. They lacked some twitch. These guys are twitchy. It creates a different challenge. It's why you see JMU, who is a really, really good football team, go in there and score 14 points."
Dubinion and Swann are among the 16 players on App State's roster who are from within 50 miles of Atlanta, and half of the players in that group are newcomers via the transfer portal or the high school ranks.
In all, the Mountaineers have 22 players on their roster from the state of Georgia.
